Johnson, Martinez Head Elected 2015 Hall of Fame Class

 

Martinez now a Hall of Famer. Photo Credit: USA Today Sports

The Baseball Writers Association of America revealed their vote for the 2015 Baseball Hall of Fame vote. This year's class includes four players who will be enshrined in Cooperstown.

By: Michael Hanley (@Magic20099)


The four former players who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame are: Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio. They will officially be inducted on July 26th as part of the overall Hall of Fame Induction Weekend which is from July 24-27.

This is only the forth time in its history that four player have been elected to the Hall of Fame in one single class, the first time since 1955. You think of the difficulty of getting votes for these players over the years and what criteria baseball writers look at and judge players on, it is amazing to think that four players were able to get enough votes to be elected all in the same year.

 Who knows when we will see a class of this size again. Their are plenty of worthy candidates till out there to be elected to the Hall of fame but if and when they ultimately get this high honor is anyone's guess.

It was reported that randy Johnson got the highest percentage of votes clocking in at 97.3 percent, followed by Pedro Martinez at 91.1, Smoltz received 82.9 of the vote and Craig Biggio got 82.7. Biggio got inducted on his third try while the other three got in on their first time on the ballot, making them first ballot Hall of Famers.

Though getting in itself is massively impressive, to be able to do it on your first try speaks to the high level of respect and admiration that voters had for these players and how they approached and played the game of baseball throughout their careers.

Randy Johnson, 51,pitched in parts of 22 seasons in the major leagues. He wound up with a career record of 303-166 with a 3.29 E.R.A. Astounding numbers when you think he pitched throughout the steroid era where hitters had ungodly amounts of power and were racking up the home runs by the bushel.

He was known for his ability to strike  batters out with the best of them, totaling 4,875 strikeouts in 4,135 1/3 innings pitched and leading the league in strikeouts in nine of his seasons he pitched. He collected allot of hardware as well as he won the Cy Young an astounding five times while finishing second in the vote for that three other occasions.

He also picked up what would be his most import pieces of hardware as he was named co-MVP of the 2001 World Series as he and the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in a thrilling seven game World Series.

Pedro Martinez, 43, pitched in 18 seasons during his time in  the major leagues. He compiled a 219-100 record along with a slim career E.R.A of 2.93.  To think he did a majority of that winning in his days with the Red Sox battling against the tough and formidable Yankees during those years, it makes his one hundred plus games over .500 that much more jaw dropping.

His ability to consistently  perform at such a high level each time out was extraordinary to watch over his prime years especially at his size.It was not as if Martinez was a very tall and long athlete, he was a pitcher of shorter stature that really had to rely on generating that power from his lower base in order to get the power and movement to his pitches.

It was that consistency that helped him top his league in E.R.A five times during his career.He did have his World series moment as he helped the Red Sox win that improbable World Series title back in 2004.

John Smoltz, 47, built  a very unique and formidable career both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever. For his career, he finished with a 213-155 record with a 3.33  E.R.A to his name. He won the Cy Young in 1996, one of his many accomplishments during his 21 year career.

His ability to fulfill two distinct roles at different time sin hsi career is a testiment to his ability to adapt to the situation he was in, his dedication to doing what is best for the team and for adjusting and reinventing his overall game and how he prepared for games either as a starter or closer.

 He is the only man is baseball history to have over 200 wins as a starter and 150 saves as a closer. To be exact, he had 154 career saves out of 169 chances, a 91 percent save percentage. Smoltz also was tough as nails in the postseason as he went 15-4 with a  2.67 E.R.A including four saves.

Craig Biggio, 49, The seven time All-Star was no surprise to get to Cooperstown  with numbers such as 3,060, the number of hits he collected during his long and successful career. His bat accounted for a .281 average, 292 home runs and 1175 RBIs were tremendous for a player who was referred to as a table setter when he was featured in the lineup.